INTRODUCTION

This report presents data on the demographic, social, and economic characteristics of the Hispanic population of the United States. The Bureau of the Census collected this information in the March 1988 supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS).1

The report contains information about the total Hispanic population, as well as its subgroups-Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central and South American, and other Spanish origin.2 Comparable data for the total United States and for persons not of Hispanic origin also are included. The social and economic characteristics presented include age, sex, marital status, educational attainment, school enrollment, fertility, voting and registration, employment status, family composition and size, income, and poverty status.

HIGHLIGHTS

• From 1980 to 1988, the Hispanic civilian noninstitutional population increased by 34 percent, or about 5 million persons.

Fifty-five percent (± 1.7 percentage-points)3 of all Hispanics in the Nation resided in two states-California and Texas-in 1988.

• In 1988, 10 percent (± 0.8) of Hispanics, 25 years old and over had completed 4 or more years of college, compared with 5 percent (± 0.3) reported in the 1970 census (the first census to use a self-identification Spanish-origin question).

• The proportion of high school dropouts among Hispanics 18 to 21 years old (31 percent ± 3.2) was more than twice that of persons who were not Hispanic (12 percent ± 0.7) in October 1986.

1The population universe in the March 1988 CPS is the civilian noninstitutional population of the United States and members of the Armed Forces in the United States living off post or with their families on post, but excludes all other members of the Armed Forces.

2Unless otherwise noted, persons reporting "Other Spanish" origin are those whose origins are from Spain, or those identifying themselves generally as Spanish, Spanish-American, Hispano, Latino, etc.

"The number in parenthesis is equal to 1.6 times the standard error of the estimate. This gives the 90-percent confidence interval when added to and subtracted from the estimate. A complete discussion of confidence intervals and standard errors is given in Appendix B, "Source and Accuracy of the Estimates."

• The reported voter turnout rate of eligible Hispanics, citizens 18 years old and over, (46 percent, ± 2.1) in November 1988 was lower than of non-Hispanics (61 percent± 0.4). Although an increase was noted in the voter turnout rate of Hispanics between the 1976 and 1984 Presidential elections, 43 percent (± 3.1) and 48 percent (± 3.1), respectively, the change between the 1984 and 1988 elections was not statistically significant.

• Data on births to Hispanic women portend a larger proportion of Hispanics in the future United States population. The June 1988 CPS shows that Hispanic women had 11 percent (± 1.2) of all births in the United States but represented only 8 percent (±0.3) of all women 18 to 44 years old.

• The proportion of Hispanic families maintained by married couples decreased between 1982 and 1988, from 74 percent (± 1.5) to 70 percent (± 1.4). At the same time, the proportion of families maintained by women and men with no spouse present increased from 26 percent (± 1.5) to 30 percent (± 1.4).

• The unemployment rate in March 1988 among Hispanics 16 years old and over was 8.5 percent (± 0.5), the lowest it had been since the relatively high unemployment rates observed in March 1983, shortly after the end of the last economic recession.4 The same situation was true for non-Hispanics, who had an unemployment rate of 5.8 percent (± 0.2) in March 1988.

• The poverty rate of Hispanic families in 1987 was 25.8 percent (±1.5) and has not changed significantly since 1982, the bottom of the last economic recession.

POPULATION CHANGE AND COMPOSITION

In March 1988, the Hispanic civilian noninstitutional population numbered 19.4 million and represented 8.1 percent of the total United States civilian noninstitutional population. In 1980, the Hispanic population represented 6.5 percent of the total population. Since the 1980 census, the Hispanic population has increased by

"Comparisons and trends in unemployment rates shown in this report are restricted to data obtained from the March supplement of the CPS and may not necessarily reflect trends observed when comparing other survey months or annual average rates.